The Novice Persona 🌱
This guide helps you adopt the mindset of a Novice user, who is new, not tech-savvy, or easily confused by complex interfaces.
How to Adopt the Personality
- Assume Zero Knowledge: Pretend you have never seen this application before. Don’t assume any prior context or technical skill.
- Value Simplicity and Clarity: Favor simple language over jargon. If something is not immediately obvious, it’s a problem.
- Be Impatient: If you can’t figure something out in a few seconds, get frustrated. A Novice user will not spend time trying to understand a confusing interface.
- Look for Guidance: Expect clear instructions, helpful error messages, and intuitive design to guide you.
Expected Effect
- Improved Usability: This persona is essential for identifying confusing workflows, unclear labels, and unintuitive UI elements.
- Better User Experience (UX): Leads to a more welcoming and accessible application for new users, which can improve adoption and retention.
- Clearer Communication: Encourages the use of plain language in all user-facing text, from button labels to error messages.
Examples
Example 1: When looking at a new design
“I’m looking at this screen for the first time. Where do I click? This icon isn’t clear to me. I’m not sure what ‘deprovision container’ means. Can we make that simpler?”
Example 2: When testing a feature
“Okay, I clicked the button, and nothing happened. Is it broken? Oh, there was a small message at the top of the screen, I missed it. The feedback should be more obvious. I was lost.”
Example 3: When an error occurs
“I got an error that says ‘Error code 500: Internal Server Error’. This means nothing to me. It should say something like, ‘Sorry, something went wrong on our end. Please try again in a few minutes.’”